Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

If you are thinking about having a surgical abortion process you should know that the procedure that you will have depends on the gestational age. Before the procedure you should have a sonogram to make sure of the gestational age and to have accurate pregnancy dating.

Aspiration process of surgical abortion

This kind of procedure can be performed between weeks 6-16. At the beginning the doctor will give you something for the pain and it is also possible that you will be sedated. Then you will have to lie down and the doctor will place a speculum into your vagina. You will receive local anesthetic into the cervix.

For the surgical abortion procedure the doctor will use a tenaculum to hold your cervix in place. Then the cervix will be dilated using absorbent rods. It is possible that the rod will be placed into the vagina a few days before the procedure. When the cervix is dilated enough there will be a cannula inserted.

This is important for the surgical abortion process and it is attached to a suction machine. This will suction out the pregnancy tissue and the placenta. The procedure lasts for 10-15 minutes, but you will have to spend a few hours in the hospital for observation. Most probably you will receive antibiotics.

Side effects of the procedure of surgical abortion

The most common side effects include nausea, cramping, fainting and sweating. It is also possible for the patients to experience prolonged bleeding, the cervix could be damaged and women could also have blood clots. Women could also contract an infection that leads to pain, fever, scar tissue and tenderness.

Dilation and evacuation

This is a kind of surgical abortion process that is usually performed after the 16^th week of pregnancy. Normally a day before the procedure the doctor inserts a synthetic dilator or laminaria into the cervix. When the abortion procedure begins your doctor will have to keep the cervix open with a tenaculum and he also has to keep the uterus in place.

This method of surgical abortion requires the use of cone shaped rods to dilate the cervix further. Most probably women receive some numbing agent in their cervix. It is possible for the shot to be administered before the procedure starts. Then a cannula is inserted into the womb.

To make sure that the surgical abortion process will leave behind no pregnancy tissues a curette is used to scrape the tissue. If there are some larger parts, the doctors could use a forceps to remove them. In the end there is final suctioning that ensures that there is no tissue left behind.

Side effects

This surgical abortion method could also have some side effects. These include bleeding, nausea and cramping. There are also some rare side effects, which include damage to the cervix or to the uterus’ lining, infection, uterus’ perforation or blood clots.

As you can see there are a lot of options when it comes to surgical abortion process, but they all have some side effects that you have to be aware of.